A few transactions occured today in the NFL world.
First of all, the Jacksonville Jaguars publicly acknowledged that Jerry Porter and Drayton Florence were awful signings today when they cut both players. Porter signed a 6 year 30 million dollar deal last year with 10 million guaranteed and Florence signed 1 6 year 36 million dollar deal last year with 12 million guaranteed. The cuts will save the Jags about 8.3 million next year, but the hurt to their wallets (because of the guaranteed money) and their pride is substantial. If only Porter had played for the Jags last year with the same enthusiasm that he has for boxer shorts.
Secondly, the Broncos cut 5 players today. 3 of their seemingly endless stable of Running Backs (Anthony Aldrige, P.J. Pope, and Alex Haynes) as well as Chad Mustard and Cliff Russell. Russell and Mustard both made my Madden teams a lot over the years, Russell for his speed and Mustard because he's cheap and has a funny name. But sadly they both join the free agent pool today. Expect Mustard back with the Broncos sooner than later though, as he's already had 6 stints with the team over his NFL career.
Lastly, the Lions today decided to retain Running Backs coach Sam Gash and Wide Recievers Coach Shawn Jefferson, and I am...curious. As a former New Englander who grew up a Pats fan, I love Gash and Jefferson. But other than Gash's blocking and Jefferson's super bowl appearances with the Chargers and Pats, they didn't do a whole lot. Now this certainly isn't Dick Pole being the pitching coach for the Reds bad, but it seems a little weird to hire decent pros as your coaches. Then again the Lions only real bright spots last year were RB Kevin Smith and WR Calvin "Megatron" Johnson, so maybe the Lions brass is onto something (or on something) that I'm not. One can only wonder. Regardless, even if I don't 100% agree with it, I think it's pretty sweet to see Shawn Jefferson and Sam Gash as coordinators.
